Reader: Mitt Romney volunteer may have broken law, but it's hard to tell

Yesterday, we shared a video of a controversial Mitt Romney volunteer registration video, featuring a young woman claiming to be from the El Paso County clerk's office -- which she wasn't. But did she do anything illegal? One of our readers decided to explore the issue and come up with no definitive answer.

Robert Chase writes:

Colorado elections law is a mess. There are specific prohibitions against Deputy county clerks and "high school deputy registrars" influencing party affiliation (C.R.S. 1-13-208-209) and against anyone interfering with or impeding registration (C.R.S. 1-13-201), but no specific stricture against the partisan conduct of voter registration drives. Even though Colorado has motor-votor and self-registration, Republicans did what they could to encumber those who want to conduct voter registration drives, but nowhere in either the C.R.S. or in the Secretary of State's Rule 44 is there any explicit requirement of impartiality. Wearing partisan regalia or making the statements the woman did while conducting a voter registration drive would tend to impede the registration of electors, and so should be a misdemeanor under C.R.S. 1-13-201 -- perhaps Dan May can look into that after he has pursued false criminal charges against every medical cannabis caregiver in El Paso County to defeat in front of juries.